Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 401 - 45 Mech-Breaking

Chapter 401: Chapter 45 Mech-Breaking

Xiang Shan placed his left hand behind his back and extended his right hand forward in a bow stance.

Hiroshi Matsushima adopted the same simple stance, also stretching out his hand to meet Xiang Shan’s palm.

The two began to push hands again.

If it were just a newcomer who had just set foot in this art, Hiroshi Matsushima could provide guidance through three thousand to ten thousand words of language instruction to help them understand the various dharma gates and tricks between the two pushing hands. This internal force fundamentally cannot escape the confines of Newtonian mechanics. The coordination and superposition of various forces are merely arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and there’s even the concrete tool of "vectors," a concept born in ancient Greece. There is nothing particularly difficult about it.

But that being said, combining simple elementary mathematical concepts like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with coordinate axes can give rise to complex higher mathematics like calculus. Delve deeper into calculus, and one might feel that there are endless concepts within it.

The exercise that Xiang Shan and Hiroshi Matsushima were practicing was based on this same principle.

"Human memory of actions" and "human memory of language" are inherently stored in different regions of the brain. Certain "language memories" and certain "action memories" might be linked, so performing certain actions could seem to trigger certain language impressions. But the two are different.

And a large part of martial arts is also "non-declarative memory."

Even if someone guides you through the door and tells you the tricks that can be put into words, without practice, the apprentice still won’t learn.

Therefore, Xiang Shan could only find Hiroshi Matsushima to train with.

This was already beyond the realm of language.

After several rounds, Hiroshi Matsushima suddenly spoke up, "Actually, you can also synchronize your waist and legs to release energy."

Before his voice fell, his hand squeezed forward.

"Damn it, you’re cheating!" Xiang Shan took a half step back, "Why didn’t you say that earlier?"

While speaking, he shook his shoulder.

Hiroshi Matsushima felt as if a metal rod had suddenly thrust into his wrist. He twisted his arm, trying to neutralize the internal force.

However, Xiang Shan smoothly changed direction, redirecting the internal force.

Together, the palms of the two created a "just right" angle with Hiroshi Matsushima’s wrist direction.

With a "crack," Hiroshi Matsushima’s prosthetic arm suddenly deformed, disintegrating from the wrist down. A series of sounds came from inside.

Hiroshi Matsushima silently looked at Xiang Shan, "Didn’t I say we were just practicing the transfer of internal force back and forth?"

"Yes."

"You directly used engineering methods to dismantle my prosthetic body, didn’t you?"

"But that was also a result of my manipulating internal force. I didn’t use force beyond the limit this training hand is capable of." Xiang Shan nodded, "I just remembered how to use this technique."

A hero knowledgeable in engineering could precisely target the weaknesses of an opponent’s weapon or prosthetic body, even specifically damaging a single part through the transmission of internal force to create a chain reaction.

This dojo would buy used arms and make minor modifications, mainly replacing the wrist components with standard training hands.

These arms naturally wouldn’t use parts imbued with pressure-sensitive materials to simulate the sensation of touch. Most modern martial artists don’t need tactile feedback.

Therefore, Xiang Shan couldn’t use his direct sensory perception to understand the mechanical structure inside the prosthetic hand.

But after a few back and forth exchanges, he could grasp a lot through listening skill.

Plus the abnormal noise from Hiroshi Matsushima’s wrist just now.

That must have been the sound of a transmission part malfunctioning.

Xiang Shan tapped his own hand, almost understanding the structure of this pair of training hands.

"Originally, all mechanical constructions need maintenance and replacement. That’s where the greatest advantage of a prosthetic body lies compared to a flesh body," Xiang Shan said. "All components of a prosthetic body are designed to be ’detachable’ and ’replaceable.’

"Of course, some top-notch devices are designed to be ’once disassembled, they’re broken’ and ’once broken, they cannot be restored.’ But that would only be for a few core components at most."

"Different parts have different qualities, and the inertia is also different. Sudden acceleration and deceleration can cause internal parts to misalign due to inertia. Short and crisp ’inch energy’ can have this effect."

"Of course, this also involves considering the opposition of the external armor and the shock absorption system. But generally, this is the right routine."

The loosening of Hiroshi Matsushima’s prosthetic was not holistic but started from the problematic part at the wrist.

After the part at the wrist became loose, the other parts continued to operate, amplifying the mistake.

Well-made prosthetics actually have protective measures, capable of promptly shutting down to prevent further damage.

Even some masters are able to selectively apply force to reposition the parts themselves.

But this cheap prosthetic didn’t have so many features.

Moreover, repair is always more difficult than destruction. "Repositioning parts" requires skills one hundred times more intricate and advanced than "displacing parts."

Therefore, a series of abnormal noises came from Hiroshi Matsushima’s arm.

Hiroshi Matsushima silently walked to the edge of the training room and, with the help of the equipment, removed the arm before attaching another one.

Though the output of the training arms was strictly limited, it was common for disciples to break them during martial arts training.

After all, these were devices already on the verge of being scrapped.

The broken arms were handed over to the mechanics trained by the dojo. If fixable, they would be repaired; if not, the parts would be recycled.

However... the ease with which Xiang Shan caused such significant damage with such little force was beyond Hiroshi Matsushima’s expectations.

After the old Boxer replaced his arm and moved it around, he asked, "Are you so concerned about winning or losing? Mech-Breaking technique... this lesson is about training the application of internal force."

Xiang Shan defiantly replied, "Just now, did I not achieve that purely through the use of internal force?"

"You also used your knowledge of mechanical engineering." TX-0 was also taken aback, "Could it be that the truth behind ’The Only Defeat in Ten Thousand Battles’..."

"No, no, no." Xiang Shan waved his hand, "How could it be? In simulated battles or sparring, I’ve lost countless times. Not to mention, I was originally just a scientist, not a Martial Artist or special forces with that kind of strength. How can I create martial arts without rough and tumble experience? I just simply remembered I had this technique, that’s all."

"Besides, please don’t always emphasize ’The Only Defeat,’ ’The Only Defeat.’ It makes me feel like I’m being scolded."

"Remembering..."

Xiang Shan continued, "Moreover, Matsushima, aren’t you saying that no one at the Paralympics used this technique? Huh?"

"Actually, they didn’t," said Hiroshi Matsushima.

After all, warriors from martial arts schools, especially competitive martial artists, usually have professional maintenance teams and do not need to repair their own prosthetic bodies. This is where they differ from heroes. They don’t really need engineering knowledge.

Without engineering knowledge, naturally, they couldn’t use the Mech-Breaking technique.